


A Star to Light the Night

by Kiki_Kai



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Beta? I don't know her, Bitch Bastard Thales, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Byleth has PTSD, Byleth shows draconic tendencies, Death, Don't worry none of the beans die just the asshole, Draconic!Byleth, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, High Fantasy, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Undead, Undead armies, death mention, fluff at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 10:36:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20974502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiki_Kai/pseuds/Kiki_Kai
Summary: The sword of the creator glowed with a holy light against the monsters that plagued them. As much as Byleth hated to admit it, they were outmatched. They had not the forces to fight against these, or the stamina. The ones they cut down kept coming back for more. Byleth was sure that she needed to kill the mastermind of this whole charade. Thales was enjoying sitting back and watching the horrors unfold before him. His coy smirk only grew bigger and bigger as he watched countless people fall to his army, and he chuckled at the screams. His eyes once again focused on the queen, and his smile wavered.She was smiling.A very short story, holding massive Golden Deer route spoilers and S Support Claude spoilers. You have been warned.Also, I'm a high fantasy author. This was bound to happen when I listened to the right music.This also contains some of my head cannons about new draconic tendencies that Byleth has since bonding with Sothis.





	A Star to Light the Night

**Author's Note:**

> If any of y'all are curious what the music was, it was this beautiful rendition of Edge of Dawn.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szsUeiU1RjA

A rush of energy passed over everyone on the field. It was being able to see the smile on their beloved professor’s face. She wasn’t afraid. She was confident. She held a stature that no one else could even hold a candle to on the field. She was… gorgeous. Her green hair flowed beautifully in the wind, and not even the blood across her face could take away from this important moment.

Behind that smile, though, Byleth could feel her hope waning. How long had she been queen? How long had it been since the loving embrace of her little deer? Years, yes, but it felt more like an entire eternity to her. She had to shake herself from her thoughts as a volley of arrows were shot in her direction. With a swift slice of her blade, she cut down the ones that she was unable to dodge. A throaty laugh traveled across the plains.

It was the bastard who had taken so much from her, yet given her so many wonderful things. His pale skin and pale eyes spoke of a hunger that such a person would never be able to fill. Even from across the field, he only spoke of revenge for his heritage. Byleth didn’t care. What was ancestry to her anyways? How was his any better than hers? He took her father from him. That was something she had been waiting to make him pay for.

Some of her students had stayed by her side, and for that, she was grateful. They were there to support her in whatever endeavor might have come across her. Ignatz stood proudly by her side, no doubt eyeing every one of the opposing forces that dared move. His aim was the best in all of Fodlan, with no one even able to hold a torch to him. And when he was done, that aim was just what was needed to create some of the most beautiful paintings throughout the land.

Hilda panted to Byleth’s side, her own, tired smile on her lips. Since her brother had stepped down from fighting the Almyrans, she had since taken up protecting Fodlan’s throat, and had become a pillar of light for all that wished to follow in her footsteps. She had proven that being cute doesn’t mean that you don’t have to be deadly. Her relic pulsed with a familiar light. She, too, was battered and beaten, but she nodded with a smile to her former professor. Her light was never one to be underestimated.

Lorenz jumped between healing the wounded and attacking any who drew near, with the help of Marianne. They too had smiles on their faces, despite the situation. Blood stained their well made clothes, but they kept everyone alive, and that was the most important. At a time like this, not even Lorenz could complain. After a lifetime of high standards, he figured that if he had to die, this would be the proper place to do so. He was brought from his thoughts as a sudden, cold rush hit his body. He looked towards Marianne, the once extremely shy girl giving him a confident nod. His breath shook, but he nodded back. If she was determined to stay alive, out of all of the people here, then damn it, he sure as hell wasn’t going to give up the fight either.

Raphael clobbered through one person after the other, smashing them to pieces. It was fairly easy for him, especially seeing as the people he was smashing had long since perished. Their bones were brittle and weak, but whenever they hit, they hurt. He wasn’t going down without a fight though. His little sister would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let any of his friends become one of these weak, spineless freaks. They were too strong to deserve such a fate. Despite the gashes on his body, he roared into the sky with the ferocity of a dragon.

A war cry was heard from across the field, as Leonie and Lysithea both attacked mercilessly against the undead corpses. Tears rushed down their faces, their screams of anguish heard through all corners of the world. They had lost so much, so damn much to these fiends. Lysithea cried out the most, both as an eternal apology to her beloved siblings, and a prayer for forgiveness that she should be the one to survive. Her anger was conjured through her magic, taking out force after force, beast after beast. Her rage, sadness and glory would be told by scholars for thousands of years to come. Leonie cut down the dead with such ferocity that one was sure that the dead could feel the pain again. How dare these monsters come back and haunt her life. How dare they try to take another loved one from her. How dare they do this to Jeralt.

The sword of the creator glowed with a holy light against the monsters that plagued them. As much as Byleth hated to admit it, they were outmatched. They had not the forces to fight against these, or the stamina. The ones they cut down kept coming back for more. Byleth was sure that she needed to kill the mastermind of this whole charade. Thales was enjoying sitting back and watching the horrors unfold before him. His coy smirk only grew bigger and bigger as he watched countless people fall to his army, and he chuckled at the screams. His eyes once again focused on the queen, and his smile wavered.

She was smiling.

Thales had never known this woman personally, nor did he really care to ever get to know the revived progenitor god. But in this moment, where her forces were nearly overcome, where she was bloodied and beaten, she still fought on. And her eyes refused to leave his. Her smile held the confidence of a god, her might growing ever powerful with each swing. But she was not the progenitor god in this moment. No, she was a beast all of her own accord.

Perhaps this is why Byleth’s army and her students were given renewed vigor. After years of knowing her, first as an emotionless professor, then to a beloved mentor, to a symbol of hope, and finally to their queen, never had they seen Byleth so full of emotion. With each slice she roared to the heavens, which threatened to part above her. The dead were no longer getting back up. Her cries of anguish, torment and pent up rage were finally spilling out of her. Some of her students had to look back at the shocking development.

She was crying.

She had never cried before.

Blood splattered the ground, but she didn’t care. Pain shot through her body, only giving her more energy. She was not going to let this man live. She had to kill so many people she had grown to love. So many people had been taken away from her by this  _ bastard’s _ hand. She began to run, her rage no longer allowing itself to be contained. Every slice held a new power to it. Her green hair and eyes glinted beautifully off of the bright light of day. She was a star. She was their light.

Thales started to back away as the horrific beast of a woman started to swiftly cut her way through the crowd. No longer did she care about self control, strategy or self preservation. He had seen this ferocity before. Dragons had been known for being horrific beasts, and yet, back then in Zanado, he had killed so many of them with ease. No, this woman was much more fierce than a dragon. Even Sothis herself would never be able to hold a candle to the ferocity within her.

Each slice of the sword of the creator incinerated the undead, making the way forward far more clear. Thales was starting to step back, trying to find an escape route, when he noticed a similar, opposing force attacking them from behind. Arrows were being shot as such high precision, and with such intense accuracy that Thales couldn’t even begin to locate where they were coming from. A goddess in front, a volley of arrows from above, and forces coming in from all sides.

He wondered if this was what it was like to feel true fear.

His beasts were being destroyed by the crest bearers, any advancing forces he could muster were being shot down so quickly they didn’t even have time to properly reform. At last, the Fell Star was only ten feet away. Solon was to his side, destroying as many of the new forces as he could, but even this was proving to be too much for him. Panicked, he turned back to Thales.

“My Lord, we must retreat! We cannot let this be our last stand!”

“I agree, let us leave. Quickly, find us a suitable place to warp to and—”

He was cut off by the pained cough of Solon. He only managed to get a final, exasperated smile from the old man before he collapsed into the soil, an entire quiver of arrows promptly submerged in his back. Thales’s breath grew tight. Nowhere he could go now would be safe. No where he could run. He turned back to the Fell Star, and slowly stepped back, as she met his pace moving forward.

“No! I cannot let you win! We’ve done so much to get to this point! If not by my hand, then perhaps someone else will take that heart of yours!”

Thales began to cast a spell; the most powerful one he had. It was cut short, air quickly leaving his lungs. The sword of the creator had been thrust through his stomach. He could feel himself failing, losing consciousness. He looked down at the angry, ferocious eyes of the progenitor god, he could feel the endless pain of the sword being taken out and stabbed through him multiple times. This was the rage of the progenitor god. No…

This was the rage of Byleth.

The cold stare of the Ashen Demon was the last thing he saw. He heard but one thing before he fell into the sweet embrace of death.

“Your soul will be hunted by the goddess until the ends of time. May you never know peace again, you lightless  _ wretch _ .”

As Thales slipped off of her blade, down onto the cold soil, so did the undead army. Any living stragglers were quickly taken care of, but the only thing Byleth was capable of in that moment was letting her tears run down her face and screaming to the heavens. Her students looked on, a relieved smile across their faces, but also a somber one. They had been through a lot, but it was hard to imagine the strain that it had on their dear professor. She had been there for every fight, for every hardship of theirs. She had lent them her shoulder, her support and her love. Who had it been that gave them her shoulder, they couldn’t help but wonder.

Their queen clutched her blade to her body, shivering before she collapsed to the ground. No longer was she a goddess, a dragon or queen. She was an exhausted human, and one who had finally broken. The flapping of wings was heard above her, and she brought her tear ridden eyes up to see a beautiful white wyvern descending upon her. She almost couldn’t see him, but off of it hopped the man she had longed to see for so long.

His beard had gotten a tad bit thicker, but he still had that little curl in his chocolate brown hair. His dark skin had some new scars to it, but his cheeky smile was still there. Claude’s warm, green eyes met Byleth’s, and before they could even say a word, they were running to each other to meet up in a loving embrace. Byleth laughed as she had never laughed before, being picked up and twirled around by her long time fiance. It ended in her arms wrapped around his neck, and him holding her up.

“Guess I came in right on time, huh?” he whispered into her ear.

“As always my love,” she whispered back, her breathy shaky. “As always.”

He set her down, and Byleth wasted no time in giving him a big, passionate kiss. He didn’t complain though. He never complained about stuff like that. Truth be told, he had been missing her for so long that he almost didn’t know how to deal with the overwhelming emotions of having her in his arms again. They were forced to pull away by the rest of the Golden Deer house gathering around them, and Claude being clapped on the back by Nader.

“Sorry for not being here sooner, your highness,” Nader beamed, hand resting firmly on Claude’s shoulders. It was more of a  _ you’ll have time to do that later _ , thing, much to the Almyran king’s annoyance. But Claude smiled and kept his fiance in a loose hug against his chest, being as defiant as ever. He’d never taken orders from anyone before, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now.

“Thank you for coming in the first place,” Byleth got out, a tired smile appearing on her face. “If you didn’t come, we would have been done for. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me,” Nader bellowed with one of his famous laughs. “Thank our king! He’s the one that had the intuition to do it.”

Byleth looked up at Claude, an eyebrow raised. “King, huh?”

Claude shrugged. “I said I had some royal connections, didn’t I?”

She only giggled and buried herself into him. Thankfully she was that close, because Claude managed to catch her as she fell.

“Whoa whoa! Byleth, are you okay?”

Byleth only gave a weak groan, and it was then that Claude could really see the wounds she sustained. Whatever was driving her through to the end must have made her unaware of the massive damage to her. He laid her on the ground, quickly pulling out an elixir and helping her down it. It did a good amount, and with a few extra healing spells from Marianne and Lorenz, she was fairly healed. At least, not enough to be in danger of dying. But at this point, she was fast asleep. Her clothes were soaked in blood, along with a lot of other members of his former house.

“I guess we really did get here just in time…” he muttered to himself.

“She’ll be fine,” Marianne reported as she moved away from Byleth’s resting body. “I think she just needs a good amount of rest.”

“Then, should we get her to the monastery? I’d hate to leave her without a decent meal when she wakes up!” Raphael was always full of vim and vigor, but Claude could see just how tired he was. How everyone was really. He nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s the best plan of action.”

Judith put a hand on Claude’s shoulder this time, a coy grin on her face as always. “We’ll take care of any of the surviving enemy forces, and also heal up as many people as possible. We’ll meet you there. Take her home.”

Claude gave an appreciative nod. “Thanks Judith,” he said as he picked up the exhausted Byleth.

“Hey, kid,” she said as he was about to turn away. He looked back, eyebrows upturned in an inquisitive manner. Judith had a relieved look in her eyes, even though the rest of her betrayed it. “I’m glad you’re back.”

His usually confident grin faltered. How long has it been since he had seen these people? Too long, by his account. Claude nodded toward her. “Good to be back.” Then him and the rest of the Golden Deer house started making their way back to the monastery. They bantered back and forth between each other, just like the good old days.

“Honestly Claude, how rude of you to show up at the last minute and steal the show?” Lorzen gripped on the back of his horse, trotting alongside Claude’s walking wyvern. “Not only that, but you kept our dear professor waiting for your return all these years! It’s downright preposterous.”

He just laughed. “Glad to see you too, Lorenz.” The purple haired man simply rolled his eyes, but he had a hint of a smile on his face. “Has she been okay?”

“Tired, mostly. The life of a queen never has and never will be easy.”

“We’ve done our best to make her feel okay,” Lysithea commented. “Hard to do that when a lot of her stress is out of our control.”

“Out of her control?” he questioned. “How so?”

“Well,” Leonie started. “She’s had to deal with the politics of the nobles, the paper work, making sure everything is alright all across Fodlan, yadda yadda.”

“Yeah, she’s been having it rough, that’s for sure,” Ignatz said with a scratch to the back of his head. “But… You’re here now! Maybe you can help her with some of her stress!”

Claude laughed. “I didn’t know you could be so forward, Ignatz.”

An instant blush graced the male’s face. “Hey! T-That’s not what I meant!”

A laugh echoed throughout the group, and it really felt like old times again. But all in all, there was a lot that had changed since Claude left, and he couldn’t help but stare down at the sleeping woman against his body as they traveled. He had missed her so much, dreamt about her, thought about her in every waking moment, that it was bizarre to have her in his arms again. She was so… warm. And beautiful.

When they got back to the monastery, Claude promptly took Byleth to her room to lay down and rest. He was informed that the others would be starting the grand meal process for the entire army, since their victory was a massive success. And sure, Claude wanted to be with everyone to see how they were doing. But that was for later, for when the alcohol was readily available. For now, it was just him and his queen.

She ended up sleeping for a while, resting against his chest. Every once in a while, she would whimper and squirm in her sleep, causing the male to hug her close and kiss her forehead, to which the whimpers were replaced by tiny purrs and her snuggling closer. Other than that, it was only the sound of her breathing that reached his ears. And what an amazing sound it was. Silence was hard to come by back in Almyra, especially with him being king. Hell, even some of the times where he was trying to sleep were rudely interrupted. Now, he could just immerse himself in her.

It was hard to come to terms with before, that he was so hopelessly in love with her. He had never trusted many people in his life, and for her to barge in and break his walls down was something he was absolutely not expecting. Before, it was a point of contention within his brain. Now, he could only see her. The softness of her skin, the light purrs she did since her transformation, her newfound smiles, the way she always smelt like flowers.

A tear ran down his face, squeezing her a little in his grasp.

“I love you, Byleth.”

She shuffled slightly in her sleep, a smile creeping onto her face. “I… love you too… Claude,” she got out, half asleep.

He smiled. It was a true smile, not one of the fakes he had put on for so many years. Even half asleep, her love poured through. Despite the thought of partying with some of his former classmates, and despite the thought of delicious food in the dining hall, he stayed with his love the entire night. Food ended up being brought to him, along with a check up on how the Fodlan queen was doing. Afterwards, Claude fell asleep beside his queen, the two of them extremely exhausted and simply needing each other's embrace. They were not disturbed for the rest of the night.

When no one was there to give Byleth their shoulder, Claude was.

He was her star. He was her light.

Just as much as she was his.


End file.
